Dallas Stars Blog

While there are plenty of great success stories with the Stars prospects, there are also some challenging moments for draft picks who hope to become future Stars. Forward Alex Guptill, who was taken 77th in 2010, is going through one of those challenges right now.

Guptill, a product of Newmarket, Ont., was scratched for a couple of games by University of Michigan coach Red Berenson a week ago for general attitude and bad practice habits.

“He’s too good a player to keep going the way he’s going, particularly his work ethic and his practice habits,” Berenson told AnnArbor.com. “It was showing up in games.”

Guptill was the CCHA Rookie of the Year last season, when he was tied for the UofM lead in goal-scoring with 16 markers. He was off to a decent start this season with 4 goals and 7 assists (11 points) in the first 13 games, but Berenson clearly expected more. Guptill returned last weekend and didn’t score in two games, but he appeared to play better.

In the long run, it could be a good lesson for the sophomore.

In other news, Brett Ritchie (Canada), Radek Faksa (Czech Republic), Esa Lindell (Finland) and Emil Molin (Sweden) are preparing for possible appearances in the World Junior Championships, which begin in Russia Dec. 26.

Meanwhile, Matej Stransky ran his goal-scoring streak to seven games (10 goals in that span), while Mike Winther pushed his scoring totals to 32 points (14G, 18A) in 32 games).